For the OP.
Needs vs wants define everything.
You NEED to drink water. You WANT to drink fancy coffee, adult beverages, power drinks, etc.
You NEED a roof over your head. You WANT an apartment with no roommates and luxury amenities.
You NEED nutritious food. You WANT your favorite take-out and don’t want to shop and cook.
Apply to car, travel, hobbies, digital toys, sports equipment, civilian clothing, household goods, etc. There is a sliding scale there you will have to figure out, between living spartanly and living extra-large.
Basics:
- Build a budget showing inflows and need-based outflows, as well as want-based. Mint is a good app. Monitor yourself. If you can’t afford a want, don’t do it. Devise a strategy and save for it.
- Take care of needs first. Always. A need is also putting money away in IRA and then TSP (govt/military version of 401k) once you are commissioned, on a regular basis.
- Emergency fund. Accumulate a few thousand dollars in an emergency fund in a savings account. Emergencies are not spontaneous weekends away with a significant other. You are driving cross-country to next duty station, go through a construction zone and destroy 2 tires. You put them on your credit card, and draw from emergency fund to fully pay off a unbudgeted expense that month. Top off emergency fund. This fund will get larger over the years - your spouse might lose a civilian job, and you need that income to support your monthly budget - but you’re fine, because you have 6 months’ of spouse salary stashed in the emergency bucket.
- Invest in IRA, probably Roth, to its annual limit. This is a need. This is part of the bucket you are building for 40+ years down the road, when salary spigots turn off and you are living on what you accumulated for another 20-30 years. The earlier you start, the more impact the power of compounding interest will have.
- Invest in TSP as soon as you are eligible, usually a commissioning. There are Roth accounts available.
- Spend less than you make. Manage credit wisely. It it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Listen to your gut.